Buckley donates 42 arrowheads to Pioneer Room

Forty-two arrowheads were recently donated to the Pioneer Room at Hastings City Hall. The little piece of history was donated by longtime Hastings resident Jeanne Buckley.

Buckley is a descendant of the Gillette family.

The Gillette family had a homestead in Mower County in southern Minnesota more than a century ago. It was at a time when people were given land in the Minnesota territory if they could make an improvement upon it.

It was on that land that the arrowheads were found. They were found by a member of the Gillette family while he was out farming.

"Can't you just see a man farming and then all of a sudden he turns up an arrowhead," Buckley said.

The arrowheads were placed in a box and held onto from generation to generation. Buckley said that her father saved the arrowheads too, but it was her who took them out of the box to display them in a frame.

Buckley said that she picked the biggest arrowhead and put it in the middle and the rest of them were placed around it. Her father left the arrowheads to Buckley in his will.

Buckley is now 91 years old. She recently moved to Cottage Grove after living in Hastings for over 50 years. She said it was just time for her to give the arrowheads away and she thought the Pioneer Room would be a good place for them.

Sharon Glade, a friend of Buckley's, said that she is looking forward to people being able to see a part of history in the Pioneer Room. The arrowheads are a part of history and the way that they are displayed is a great way for people to see them and appreciate them rather than sitting in a box somewhere.

I just think it's a part of history that needs to be remembered and treasured and kept," Glade said. "It's history, it's art, all in one."

Although Buckley donated the arrowheads to the Pioneer Room, they didn't fit in with the rest of the collection. Some calls were made and officials at the Pioneer Room found a new home for them in Mower County. The arrowheads will be shipped home to the county and land that they were originally found to be displayed for people to enjoy.